Does anyone else agree that “unique” names are becoming so common?

[Mamatolittleboy]

We called our boy a common name so this isn’t me having a bash. Just wondering if anyone else is finding this too?

I go to a lot of baby groups where woman tell me how much they wanted a unique name so called their baby Oakley, River or Forest. Names I’ve heard so much this year. All beautiful names, lovely names.

Went round a friends house the other day to meet her new baby. Gorgeous boy, they wanted an uncommon/rare name for him - Arlo.

Geraldine is indeed a very good name but it doesn't quite have the élan of Pretoria.

Perhaps it was the equivalent of Brooklyn or India!

Rogan is a last name.

Common for people in the US to use what we consider last names as first names. The names then end up here.

In the 90s in an Australian soap - I think "Home and Away" - there was an Angel.

The school I work in has 5 willows in 1 year group!! I'm guessing that's now an on trend name! We have lots of Arlos lots of Avas and lots of Oakleys, we also have 2 forests. There are 680 kids in the school I work in, it's also the same school as my children attend. They're the only ones with their names in the school.... so far.

As long as their surname isn't Roy, they should be okay.

I think it’s extinct in Scotland now! I don’t know if it’s as early as 1992, but the last few years anyway there hasn’t been a Gary registered in Scotland

How do you even find that out?! How many were born in so and so a year thought it was just the most used ones!

For England and Wales, ONS release the full list as an Excel sheet, but the quickest place to check is the Dark Greener website, which also shows how the name popularity has changed over time.

I have a 10 year old Forrest and he has never had this said to him. The film is nearly 30 years old, so not within the frame of reference of his (or future) generations.

HTH.

This goes back a bit further than the ONS tool and is really interesting - you can see the author explains the same trend I talked about, that the popular names a couple of centuries ago really really were popular, with John and Mary each being around 16% of all boys/all girls. That's about 1 in every 8 children having those names. Whereas today the top names are something like 3%.

https://flourish.studio/blog/baby-name-history-visualised-in-flourish/

There have always been trends. In the twenties the name Gladys struck a lot of parents as a fashionable and glamorous choice.
In the eighties the same happened with Gemma.
I’m expecting a new wave of Pamellas and Niyjels very soon.

I really like the name Pamela!

Thanks for sharing this, really interesting!

I was told very seriously by a child to name my DD that.

The problem is Pamela are in their 50s and 60s so it was a definite "No"

I really like Pamela too.

Pamela makes me think Anderson. Though my DC wouldn't have a clue what those two names together mean.

I think a lot of people don't follow trends and don't necessarily know how common or not previously unusual names have become.

Having said that, some people do seem to live under rocks with names. My parents for example. They thought they were giving a me a 'traditional but fresh, unusual name'. I was born in the 1980s. My name is Rebecca! 😕😆

@miniaturepixieonacid You are a young one - most I know are older than you.

Really? I was at primary school in the 90s and went to school with at least 3 Rebeccas/Beccas/Beckys!

I wasn't looking for "unique" names, but didn't want my children to be "Sophie B" or "Ginger Ollie". DS1 is one of three born in 2020 and DS2 is in the top 800. Both have the correct spelling and are normal names that people have heard before.

Rebecca was uber popular in the 80s and 90s.

I live in Germany and they're quite strict with names for people. They even have a list of "acceptable" names. I daresay some of the names mentioned on this thread just wouldn't be allowed in Germany.

Furthermore, if you name your child something which isn't "obviously" male- or female-sounding, you must give them a second/middle name that does. So, for example, you cannot simply name your son River Smith (or Schmidt, I guess). He would have to be called River [typical male name] Smith/Schmidt!

My wife explains it is to prevent names like "Cola" or "Legend" or whatever on earth Elon Musk named his son which reads like the name of a robot from a sci-fi, which I understand. But still, something about the state telling you what you can and can't name your child doesn't sit right and I quite like the fact the UK is very lax when it comes to names (on that note my wife cannot believe that the deed poll is a thing 😅)